Author: Mike Chen
Publisher: Mira Books
Published Date: January 25, 2022
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★⍣☆
REVIEW
I have read all of Mike Chen's books aside from his work in the Star Wars universe, and this was definitely a solid entry. Like his others, this has a strong characters. All of his books have a very personable focus rather than coming at it from a hard sci-fi perspective. I really connect with the way he tells people's stories within a world where something exists that currently doesn't today. I love that his books are standalone and less science-y than others in the genre because this allows his character work to shine through.
SUMMARY
This book is about the Shao family siblings and the aftermath of what happened fifteen years ago on a family camping trip. Evie and Kass don't speak often and Kass is left to deal with their fathers death and their mothers worsening dementia on her own. Evie is off in New York trying to figure out how to get their brother back. During that camping trip, both Jakob and their father disappeared only for their dad to reappear a couple days later claiming they had both been abducted by aliens. Jakob has finally come back, not knowing anything that has happened since he disappeared, claiming to be on a mission from the aliens that abducted them into their army.
This book does not take a hard science lane and instead focuses on the family drama.
MY THOUGHTS
Maybe it is because I listened to it on audiobook instead of reading a physical copy, or maybe it is because there was such a focus on the interworking's of the Shao family, but this was my least favorite of Chen's books. To me, it felt like if you took out the sci-fi elements, nothing else would change plot-wise. Unlike his other books where the sci-fi was more of a focus, this was more about familial relationships. I generally don't tend to pick up books where families argue the whole time and don't end up seeing eye-to-eye until the very end, but to be frank I wasn't exactly expecting it from this book.
This is not to say I disliked this book. Chen's writing is incredibly good. The way he writes makes you not want to put down the book. His writing flows so smoothly it almost feels like you're not reading, but rather watching the story unfold. In saying that, I do think his books, particularly this one, would make a fantastic show. Since I did listen to this book, I got to hear the interactions between the characters, and the three siblings felt very real to me. Once again, Chen managed to create characters that are fully realized and not stereotypes. His character work is some of the best in speculative fiction in my opinion.
Now, I do wish there were a couple more hard sci-fi elements thrown in. I feel like we almost got a taste of it at the end. I just really wanted to see and hear the descriptions of the aliens that Chen created for this book. Overall, it wasn't bad by any means, but I definitely went into it wanting and expecting more of a sci-fi book.
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